Nairobi - 3 days and still haven't been robbed.

Nairobi is a big, flash, fancy, green city. The biggest reminder that I'm in Africa (well aside from all the Africans) was the 10 road blocks in the 2 hour trip from the border. The road blocks are the most obvious symptom of power abuse, corruption and bad governance. my bus passed all the checks without any fines. Also on the bus ride (while I was still on the Tanzania side) I finally got to see impressive, uniquely African animals in the wild: a line of Zebras casually meandering though the plains near the road. Beautiful.

Flic's mum, Marilyn, has been kind enough to share her hotel room with me. So I'm indulging in the luxury of huge buffet breakfasts (pocketing a yogurt for later) and an actual bath, with real hot water (pocketing some soap for later). The hotel is right next to to the hospital so I have been able to visit Flic daily.

Flic is not enjoying life at the moment, can't say I blame her. She is frustrated and dealing with the effects of surgery (anxiety and lack of balance which are normal and expected) and the effects of the drugs (lethargy and foggyness, also normal and expected). Flic and I are similar in our love of independence and are both known to get annoyed with people who tell us what to do. So I can empathise with the feeling of powerless she has and have been amazed with her patience and politeness. Marilyn is at the hospital before I get out of bed and still there when I get into bed, she makes sure that Flic is cared for as a whole person. And Flic is improving, slowly, but strongly, every day.

I have stared the process of applying for my business visa for Ethiopia. Of course there is the usual hiccups along the way. The Ethiopian Embassy can only issue business visas to Kenyan residents. They suggested I get Kenyan residency first, I said that could be rather time consuming. So they suggested that I return to New Zealand to get the visa, I said that I would find that inconvenient. Then they suggested I enter as a tourist, I said that would be entering the country under false pretences (also I would not be able to residency). Then they finally said that if I could get the school to clear my entrance with Ethiopian immigration first they could then issue a visa. So I've got the school working on that possibility.

I've been using the buses here, and like in a lot of African countries the bus owners state their alliances in bold stickers across their windscreens: 'God is Great", "Allah Willing", "Chelsey", "Arsenal". They also belt out their favorite music. Yesterday I got in a bus that had some gangsta rap on full pelt. Due to my culture and upbringing I have never been overly comfortable with the word 'Nigger' or as is is now said 'Nigga". In fact I'm more comfortable with 'cunt' - possibly the result of seeing 'The Vagina Monologues' and living in Scotland. So I wasn't overly comfortable in a bus full of black men listening to lyrics encouraging all Niggas to fuck em white whoes, and fuck em up real bad. I was possibly the only one who noticed it.